After
by SkywardShadow
Summary: After losing the battle with Sasuke, Itachi finds himself in a dark and empty place. But is he really where he thinks he is? Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I also do not own "Afterlife" by Avenged Sevenfold. Not being sued would make my day. ^_^

**A/N: Dedicated to CeruleanCypher and devotedtodreams, my fellow Semper Vivus..er..peeps! (I need to figure out a plural form of SV, huh? XD) Because they're both awesome. And I felt like dedicating this to somebody. **

**Hope you enjoy!**

**x-x**

**After**

**x-x**

_-Fallen into this place_

_just giving you a small taste of your afterlife here _

_so stay, you'll be back here soon anyway.-_

Darkness.

Everywhere.

Not a suffocating darkness, as writers had romanticized it. It was more like a darkness that just _was_, and there was nothing to be done about it.

_So this is what comes after death,_ Itachi figured, with much more calmness than most would think the situation called for. The amount of time between his timely end and his arrival at this afterlife had been longer than he had expected.

But no matter. He was here now-wherever 'here' was-and that meant that his duty had, at long last, been completed.

It was a slightly bittersweet realization. On the one hand, it was gratifying to know that he had done what he had to do, and that he had left the world without leaving anything to be done behind. His to-do list, so to speak, had been entirely completed.

On the other hand, however, it was somewhat depressing. Here he was, stuck in the middle of-nowhere? nothingness? a black hole?-where he would most likely be staying for the rest of eternity. There were several irksome things about this prospect:

1-The place already stank of monotony. It looked like he had nothing and no one to train or even converse with, and nothing to look at, so it stood to reason that things would get boring very quickly. And then he would be bored forever.

It didn't exactly sound like a barrel of fun.

2-He had no idea what was going on in the world. 'What if's were already nagging at him-What if it was too late? What if Madara had already put his plans in motion? What if he had somehow persuaded Sasuke, of all people, to help him destroy Konoha? Wouldn't _that_ be ironic.

What if, after everything, the person Itachi had given everything to protect helped to destroy his village-the reason he _needed_ to be protected from anything in the first place? It was a haunting thought.

3-And this was the worst-he could do nothing about it. Even if his beloved younger brother was going to his doom at that very second, even if Madara's spiderlike clutches were tightening threateningly around Sasuke and the village, even if every inhabitant of Konoha was poised precariously on the brink of sudden and violent death-_he could do nothing_.

He was gone from that world now. He was not even a ghost. He wasn't sure if he technically even existed anymore.

That fact in particular would have killed him if he wasn't already dead.

He looked up. Blackness.

He looked down. More of the same.

He wished for some tiny dot of color, just to remind him of something close to light. Even pink would be preferable to this utter black, although he would not admit to that preference even under torture. The darkness was endless and all-consuming, and it made him feel like less than nothing. Like a single grain of sand somewhere in the midst of Sunagakure's outskirts. An unpleasant sensation.

Although he supposed it was nothing less than he deserved.

He closed his eyes and wondered about what was happening in the world he had left behind. Had Madara told Sasuke the truth? Had the younger Uchiha forgiven his brother, or would he hate him until the day he died as well? He almost hoped that Sasuke didn't know the truth about the massacre, because what good would the knowledge do? All it would do would cause him even more pain.

"…_achi?"_

_Hn?_ He allowed his eyes to open.

"…_Ita……ome on.."_

There it was again. A sound. A voice, ghostly and faint. He could catch bits and pieces of scattered speech.

"_..ake up…Itach…."_

He wandered toward what seemed to be the right general direction.

"…_alive? Or…."_

Now the voice sounded like it was coming from the opposite direction. He frowned. Was some higher power simply toying with him? It was as if he was chasing an echo: elusive and slippery.

"…_ake up….ready…"_

"Where are you coming from?" he growled in frustration. It felt impossible to close in on a location.

"_..…talk? Maybe…"_

The darkness was helping nothing. Pushing back annoyance, he closed his eyes again in order to focus on a more reliable sense. He couldn't see this mysterious speaker; that much was certain. Maybe taking his mind off of trying to _see_ the speaker, and instead attempting to find them by listening..

He stood in total silence, straining to hear any hint of sound.

"…_moving?"_

The person had spoken again, but he still couldn't figure out where the words were coming from. It was as if someone was speaking inside his head, hiding in a shadowy corner of his own mind.

"Keep talking," he muttered, his face tight with concentration. "I _will_ find you.."

"…_ook at that!...moving, I saw it!"_

His eyes squeezed themselves more tightly shut. _Where are you? _

"_..can't say I'm delusional now…see?"_

_What?_ The voice had become somewhat clearer, although the source had not.

He had a sudden thought, one which would make his heart start pounding if he had one and had not had his emotions stamped out of him long ago.

_What if..hn. That would be..interesting._

"I'm here," he murmured, feeling ever-so-slightly idiotic.

"…_you see? I told you, Zetsu, he's hanging in.."_

_Zetsu?_ Was he right? Was he…?

"Kisame?" he inquired calmly, as if the aforementioned Akatsuki member was standing right before him. He had recognized the voice, and hopefully, that meant what he thought it meant.

"_...the hell? Already?"_

It's much clearer now. Much, much clearer.

"_..Itachi? Can you hear me? Open your eyes."_

Open..?

"_Open your eyes."_

_Yes._

He opens his eyes and blinks at the brightness of the light on the ceiling.

A familiar blue face looms over him, wearing a sharklike grin.

"About time you woke up," Kisame stated. "We thought you actually died there.."

_-Owari_

**A/N: Kinda angsty, bits of humor, a little weird…okay, so it went all over the dang place. –sweatdrop- **

**All who think I should quit writing about the Uchihas and focus on other characters, raise your hand. XD (Although I do have a Sasuke-centric drabble-esque thingy already in the making..)**

**I hope you liked it. Reviews are such wonderful things, but of course, don't feel like you have to. Have a good one. -SS**


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